Tuesday, February 16, 2016

FW45: Jenny & FW46: Jewel

Big week in Farmer's Wife land. I have been on a roll. I have no idea why. I think both these blocks didn't have loads of pieces so they were quick to complete. I am also doing them ahead of time. This is because it's halfterm and I am going back to mums for a a few days and I know it will mean the whole week is shot really and then I will have to get back into the groove again so I would rather have a leisurely time fitting back into it rather than feeling demoralised that I am falling behind. I know you are supposed to do this at your own pace but I HATE being behind. I just can't hack it. It makes me feel like a loser. I am really not feeling very zen about it. Terrible I know. I really will have a talk with myself. I didn't think I would feel like this, I really didn't!

Block 34: Jenny
This block was a really quick block. Nice and easy. I decided to try and use some of my new brown butterfly fabric in brown and white. I am not really into brown but it goes with the range and I thought when Kerry mixed it with pink it looked great. I put it with my new orange dots here but for some reason it feels a bit 70's kitchen. I am not sure about that. It might be okay if it's surrounded by the pink blocks though.

It looks okay here next to my new Anne block. I think it was just a little bit too much brown. It's better as a small highlight to give some dark bits to blocks so I will think more carefully next time. It is one of my favourite block designs so the need to redo it is quite strong. Hmmm... I will consider it.

It is also perfectly pieced even if I do say so myself. Everything matches up! Probably because it's a simple block, but it feels highly fulfilling not to be overlooking some slight glitch.Block 46 Jewel
I really wasn't sure about this block. It's looked a bit weird, a bit puffy, a bit untraditional. But I relented. I am not sure why. Probably because A__l mentioned that she was going to make every block even if she didn't like the look of them. It also seemed like a good opportunity to get the whole fussy cutting thing under control. I'm really pleased with the result. I spent a long time laying out the template pieces in their correct place and cutting out each bit separately. I even fussy cut the solid from the dancer fabric so it matched exactly. It really is a waste of fabric though. It's not something I would do very much of because I am such a skinflint.

It's a bit of a cop-out to use fabrics from the same range as you know they'll go together, but it is lovely when it just works. The only thing I would change is the two ginger cats in the top right. It's the same cat. I didn't realise. I like the little cat on the bottom left looking up at them all though.

I really thought this was going to be really hard to match up but all the seams nested really well together and I think I have finally mastered the pin through the join technique too. So two perfect blocks this week. What a peach!

As I was finishing up I noticed this mini cat in an offcut of salve edge. I wish I had saved the entire strip now so that I could sew it into something. I am hoping I can find it on another bit somewhere. In the meantime I thought I might put this on the title page of my farmer's wife notebook as I think I will always associate this fabric line with the Farmer's Wife project.